007 First Light on the ROG Xbox Ally X: Performance & Settings

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After the Steam Deck, 007 First Light moves to the ROG Xbox Ally X, and it's running really well here too. I focused on handheld performance at 900p and 25 watts, but 720p, 900p or 1080p all work depending on the upscaling and settings you want.

Test setup

I don't like to call things best settings, but this is what I've been running since launch, the past 24 to 48 hours at the time of the video. Everything was fully updated with the latest Windows, ASUS and driver updates.

• Device: ROG Xbox Ally X, 8GB VRAM
• Mode: Xbox mode (Xbox full screen experience), Steam version of the game (not the Xbox app version)
• TDP: 25W. Anywhere between 17 and 25 watts will get you there unplugged, but the closer to 25 the better, especially in the heavier areas.
• Resolution: 900p with FSR Balanced. FSR Performance gets you a little more FPS with less image quality, and Quality a little less FPS if you want it slightly sharper. 720p native or 1080p with FSR Performance land in a similar spot. V-Sync is off for the video, so you'll see some tearing that you won't see on the device.
• Settings: 16x texture filtering, texture quality medium, level of detail low, terrain quality medium, shadows low, fog low, effects low, global illumination medium, reflections medium and everything else off for post effects. Dropping global illumination to low gains a couple of FPS, but I think it's worth leaving it on medium.
• FPS numbers are what the on-screen overlay read in the video, checked every two seconds.

Gameplay at 900p, FSR Balanced, 25W

There are a lot of different areas in each mission: inside, outside, driving and straight-up combat, so each one can perform a little differently. Through the mission in the video, the overlay mostly read the upper 30s and 40s. Walking through the crowded gala it read about 43, the indoor fights about 50, and one of the driving sections dipped to about 31 to 35, the lowest in the video. Some of the later interiors ran in the 50s, and the closing skydive went up to about 70.

Frame locks and frame gen

If you don't mind a straight 30 FPS, locking the game to 30 would do just fine. You could also work toward a locked 40, but you'll run into some issues later on. AMD Fluid Motion Frames in the AMD app or Lossless Scaling are options too, but for this one I stayed away from all that and stuck with the in-game settings.

Verdict

Except for a few hiccups here and there, I think the game's running really well on the Xbox Ally X, and really on all of the handhelds, which I'm happy to see. Like a lot of the harder-hitting triple-A games lately, 900p with or without upscaling winds up working pretty well. I'm really enjoying 007 First Light and having a blast playing through it, about halfway done at the time of the video. For the Legion Go side, see my Legion Go Z1E vs Legion Go 2 Z2E head to head in 007 First Light.